Iranian Studies

The Relation between History and Epic in Iranian National Epic

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mahmoud JafariDehhaghi 1
Lila Varahram 2

1 Associate Professor, Department of Ancient Culture and Languages, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Master's degree (M.A.) in the Department of Ancient Culture and Languages, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jis.2013.35365
Abstract
As both
epic and history express some stories of the past, their existing similarities
and dissimilarities and their relation have attracted the attention of scholars.
These two kinds of stories have been so similar that previous experts could not
distinguish the historical events from epics. In Shāhnāme, as an excellent sample
which Iranians consider as their pre-Islamic history until the last Qajar, the
line between historical events and epic cannot be drawn. Finding the roots of
many of Iranian national epic stories in Avesta and observing their
contradictions to the works of foreign authors, inscriptions and archaeological
findings, aroused many serious questions about the existing relation between
epic and history in the field of Iranian studies. This essay is generally
studying the relationship between epic-history and its ratio to Iranian
national epic specifically.

Keywords

history
Epic
Iranian National Epic
Historical sources
Parthian Period
Sassanian Period
Shāhnāme

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